Vanice
Variant spelling of the feminine name Janice, of Latin origin meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 91 living Americans carry the first name Vanice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Vanice today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Vanice births was 1939 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Vanice. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Vanice. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
91
~ 1 in 3,766,531 Americans
Peak year
1939
9 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
1990 SSA rank
#12,898
Tracked since 1920
Census
Vanice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Vanice, which placed it at #33,953 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Vanice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanice is Black at 43.8%. The next largest groups are White (39.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Vanice described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Vanice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.8% · 106
- White39.7% · 96
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.2% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 14
- Two or more races3.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 3
Popularity
Vanice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Vanice from the 1920s through to the 1990s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 38 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Vanice by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Vanice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Vanice
The name Vanice is believed to have originated from the Latin language. It is a feminine form of the name Vanus, which means "empty" or "void." The name first appeared in ancient Roman texts and records around the 1st century AD.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Vanice was sometimes associated with the concept of humility or emptying oneself of pride and ego. Some religious scholars suggest that it may have been influenced by the biblical phrase "vanity of vanities," which appears in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
The earliest recorded use of the name Vanice can be traced back to a Roman noblewoman named Vanice Aurelia, who lived in the 3rd century AD. She was known for her philanthropy and charitable works.
In the 5th century, there was a Christian martyr named Vanice of Antioch, who was persecuted and executed for her faith during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
During the Middle Ages, the name Vanice became more widespread across Europe. One notable figure was Vanice de Montfort, a French noblewoman and crusader who participated in the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century.
In the Renaissance period, the name Vanice was associated with the Italian city of Venice. A famous example is Vanice Venier, a Venetian noblewoman and patron of the arts who lived in the 16th century.
Another notable figure was Vanice Caravaggio, an Italian painter from the late 16th century, known for her realistic and emotionally charged works.
Over the centuries, the name Vanice has undergone various spelling variations, such as Vanyce, Vanise, and Vanessa. It has been used in various cultures and languages, although its popularity has waxed and waned throughout history.
People
Vanice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Vanice as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Vanice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Vanice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 91 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Vanice going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,766,531 US residents.
Is Vanice a common name?
We classify Vanice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 161 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Vanice most popular?
The single biggest year for Vanice was 1939, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Vanice is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Vanice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Vanice, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Vanice in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Vanice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Vanice leans strongly female. 209 people counted with this name were female (91.3%), compared with 20 male bearers (8.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Vanice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Vanice is Black at 43.8%. The next largest groups are White (39.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Vanice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Vanice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.8% (106 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Vanice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Vanice a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Vanice in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Vanice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Vanice in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Vanice can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Vanice?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.